Brace for the rails of railroad tracks



April 27, 1943. J. F. DALE 2,317,735

BRAGE FOR THE RAILSOF RAILROAD TRACKS Filed July 10, 1942 ig 5 I ji 5 5 Patented Apr. 27, 1943 BRACE FOR THE RAILS OF RAILROAD TRACKS James F. Dale, Richmond, Ind., assignor of onehalf to Roy E. Riegel, Richmond, Ind.

Application July 10, 1942, Serial No. 450,453

2 Claims.

This invention relates to braces for the rails of railroad-tracks, and has for one of its objects to'provide a novel device of this character which will be adapted to positively prevent spreading and the outward tilting of the rails, which will be adapted to be spiked to the ties and firmly secured to the rails without the aid of bolts, and which will be simple, strong and durable and capable of being manufactured at low cost.

To attain the foregoing and other objects, the nature of which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprehends the provision of a rail brace comprising a bar adapted to be positioned in contact with the outer side of the web of a rail, arms extending outwardly from the bar and adapted to be spiked to adjacent ties, and stays adapted to be engaged with the base of the rail and secured to the arms.

The invention is hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view in top plan with a portion broken away illustrating a rail brace constructed in accordance with an embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring in detail to the drawing, I and 2 designate two adjacent ties, and 3 designates a portion of a rail of a railroad-track.

The brace comprises a bar 4 which is greater in length than thedistance between the ties l and 2 and which is approximately equal in length to the distance between the longitudinal centers of the ties. The bar 4 is equal in width to the distance between the base 5 and the head 6 of the rail 3, and it is arranged in contact with the outer side of a web I of the rail with its lower and upper edges contacting with the base and the head, respectively.

Arms 8 formed integrally with the ends of the web bar 4 and extending outwardly from the web bar at right angles thereto, have downwardly and outwardly inclined inner portions 8a, and horizontal outer portions 81) and intermediate portions 80. The arm portions 8a extend downwardly and outwardly from the web bar 4 at an angle to position the arm portions 8b and 8c in contact with the upper sides of the ties l and 2, and the arm portions 8b are flattened and provided with openings to permit them to be secured to the ties by spikes 9.

Stay bars I ll engaged with the base 5 of the rail 3 and secured to the attaching arms 8, have horizontal inner portions Illa arranged in contact with the under side of the rail base and with the opposing sides of the ties l and 2. The stay bars II) have horizontal outer portions lllb and upwardly and laterally inclined intermediate portions lllc of which the latter, due to their inclination, arrange the stay bar portions Itlb in contact with the opposing sides of the attaching arms 8. The stay bar portions Illa are provided at their rear ends with hooks I I which embrace the inner flange of the base 5 of the rail 3, and the stay bar portions lOb are secured to the attaching arm portions by bolts l2.

In practice, one of the braces will be used for each rail to be held against spreading and tilting movements. Each brace will be applied by first positioning its bar 4 in contact with the outer side of the web of a rail at such a point in the length thereof as to permit the arms 8 to be positioned upon two ties of the rail, by spiking the outer ends of the arms to the ties, by then engaging the stay bars H] with the base of the rail and tie thereafter bolting the stay bars to the arms. As the stay bars Ill are engaged with the rail base and bolted to the attaching arms 8, the web bar is firmly held in contact with the web of the rail, and as the attaching arms extend outwardly from the web bar and rest upon and are spiked to ties the rail is positively held against spreading and tilting movements. While the brace is shown applied to a rail supported by wood ties, it is to be understood that it is adapted for application to rails supported by metal ties, and that it may be secured to metal ties by bolts engaging the ties and the brace arm terminals 81).

While I have described the principle of the invention, together with the structure which I now consider the preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that the structure shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made, when desired, as fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A rail brace comprising a web bar adapted to be positioned in contact with the outer side of the web of the rail, arms extending outwardly from the bar and having downwardly and outwardly inclined inner portions and horizontal outer and intermediate portions adapted to rest upon certain of. the ties supporting the rail, the outer arm portions being provided with openings to having horizontal inner portions arranged in contact with the lower side of the rail base and provided at their inner ends with hooks engaging the inner base flange, the stay bars having horizontal outer portions and intermediate portions of which the latter incline upwardly and laterally to position the outer portions in contact with the intermediate portions of the arms, and means engaging the intermediate arm portions and the outer stay bar portions to secure the stay bars to the arms.

2. A rail brace comprising a bar adapted .120 be permit them to be secured to the ties, stay bars positioned in contact with the outer side of the web of the rail, arms extending outwardly from the ends of the bar and adapted to be positioned upon and secured to certain of the ties supporting the rail, stay bars extending inwardly from,

the arms, the stay bars being adapted to occupy a position below the base of the rail and provided at their inner ends with hooks adapted to embrace the inner flangeof said base, and means securing the outer ends of the stay bars directly to the arms.

JAMES F. DALE. 

